The Frightened Man

This rather cheap and cheerful effort actually has quite a decent, complex, plot and Dermot Walsh ("Julius") and on-screen father Charles Victor ("Rosselli") work well together to create just a little more suspense than usual in this British crime drama. The latter runs an antique shop and, occasionally, fences some stolen goods to help fund his son through Oxford University. The pretty ungrateful son manages to get himself sent down, returns home and basically cleans the old man out - whilst, simultaneously - falling for the lodger "Amanda" (Barbara Murray) with whom he runs off only to fall in with some more substantial crooks who are planning a daring diamond heist. When it all starts to go wrong, and the cops begin to close in, poor old Dad tries to help out his ingrate of a son but is it all just too late? It doesn't hang about, the narrative is well paced and the romance kept to a minimum which really helps this to stay on track. Thora Hird and John Horsley crop up now and again to add a bit of cornflour to the gravy, making for quite a watchable hour, or so.

John Gilling directed and provided the script for THE FRIGHTENED MAN - and I readily admit that he did well on both counts. The copy that I watched could never rate good, let alone pristine, with some truncated bits where dialogue was lost. That said, it was clear enough to deserve praise for cinematography by Monty Berman.

Those lost words notwithstanding, dialogue struck me as both convincing and involving, assisted by two very fine actor performances from Dermot Walsh as the worthless, cheating, mendacious Julius, the son of Rosselli (superbly portrayed by Charles Victor as the caring father with a past about to catch up with him). Martin Benson plays very effectively the shifty villain Alec Stone.

I found the film arresting from beginning to end without needing any extraordinary amount of action. The characters came across as believable and well rounded. With a length of 69 minutes, it is short enough that it is a pleasure to view and review. 7/10.

I saw this on the television last night. It is a good 1950's B-movie thriller. Whilst the plot is a bit hackneyed in places, it is well acted and well directed. If you like this sort of film it is well worth a viewing. If you are not a fan of this sort of film, but want to kill 69 minutes, it should do the job.

Julius Rosselli (Dermot Walsh) is coming home for what his father thinks is just a visit. After all, the young man is going to Oxford. However, he soon admits that he's been thrown out of school. While you'd think his father would be furious, Mr. Rosselli (Charles Victor) adores his son and cannot imagine that he is a bad sort. But Julius is spoiled and rather hateful--and soon falls in with criminal elements. The bottom line is that he wants wealth and fun but doesn't want to work for it. It's a shame, as he's not only hurting his father but has just convinced a nice lady to marry him and she is bound to be disappointed in her husband. All the while, Mr. Rosselli loves his son and puts up with all sorts of verbal abuse from the guy. You really want to see Julius get what he deserves and what happens next, you'll just have to see for yourself. However, expect the unexpected in this lovely little crime film.

"The Frightened Man" turned out to be a dandy movie despite the very low budget and a cast consisting mostly of lesser-known actors. The script was great--with some wonderful characters and a great plot twist near the end. Walsh, in particular, did a great job in his portrayal of Julius--the guy you love to hate. However, Victor also did a darned nice job. Overall a very good film with everything going for it but a big budget. Well worth your time.

I just feel the need to begin by noting that the promotional poster/art for this film is very misleading and should be disregarded. Now, onto the film itself: I was anticipating something good but my expectations were greatly exceeded. The story itself is very solid and the script fully supports it through to its final conclusion. The entire cast does a fine job with Victor, Walsh, and Murray all delivering exceptional performances. Gilling does well in directing this thoroughly engaging and interesting film from beginning to end. Its is very British in all of the best ways and I can hardly think of a recent film that so thoroughly delivered such entertainment in such a short run time. The Frightened Man is definitely one to check out.